Thursday, September 24, 2009

Some times it is not so great to be rich and famous. After all, everyone knows your business and that can have has some serious disadvantages. Besides not being able to eat at common restaurants or "being seen" at Walmart, there are even more serious pitfalls to being rich. In fact, it some times is hard to do almost anything without someone trying to get their hand in your pants pockets. While John Travolta may not get hit on just going to the local market, he is none the less a potential target of cons. Recently, John Travolta spoke publicly about his efforts to save his teenage son's life at the family's vacation home in the Bahamas. John and his wife, Kelly Preston, are witnesses in a criminal trial of a paramedic (TarinoLightbourne) and former Bahamian senator (Pleasant Bridgewater) who allegedly tried to extort $25 million from Travolta.

16-year-old Jett Travolta died after suffering a seizure. He was discovered unresponsive by a nanny at the Grand Bahamas island home of Travolta. Travolta and a family friend tried to revive Jett. "We continued CPR and my wife was holding his head," testified Travolta. Travolta initially told the ambulance driver to rush them to an airport where his private jet could fly his son to a West Palm Beach hospital instead of driving him to the hospital in Freeport. The paramedic allegedly asked Travolta to sign a statement releasing the ambulance company from any liability. Travolta signed the statement without reading it. Extortion trial

While in the ambulance with their son, Travolta and his wife decided to go to the hospital.At the hospital, Travolta was told his son "wasn't alive." Now the bazaar part. The defendants, Lightbourne and Bridgewater, allegedly tried to get Travolta to pay them $25 million to keep quiet about a medical document concerning Jett's death. If true, the allegations are disgusting. How low must one be to take advantage of another at a time of such a tragedy?

As always, Legal Pub reminds all of us that all suspects and defendants are to be presumed to be innocent unless otherwise proven in a court of law. Oh how nice if that standard also applied to every day opinions...

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Legal Pub started as a virtual pub where famous people, scholars, comedians and common folks could enjoy discussing legal news worthy topics. It subsequently spawned into a written publication which sometimes contains strictly scholarly articles. However, Legal Pub attempts to serves up the news in an entertaining, sometimes sarcastic format that will entertain, educate and stimulate discussion. Everyone is welcome to discuss topics, not just scholars or famous people. Anonymous posting is encouraged when ever possible. Authors of this blog may vary from week to week.